I continue to have difficulty reconciling the information presented in Nick Taylor's articles with the information presented under oath at the Senate Inquiry.

The information that Taylor obtained after the Senate Hearings?

The minutes in Submission 13 just highlighted that last year was a waste of time they had already decided two years to go cut a team.

'4. Finally Mr Clarke went to great pains to advise the enquiry today that Lavan Legal under
Rugby WA direction wrote the very Alliance Agreement that provided the avenue for the
ARU to cut the Force yet he omitted to clarify that the ARU in a revised draft provided the
precise wording that was later utilised to define their legal position to terminate the
Alliance and hence remove the Western Force from the Super Rugby competition'

Peop answering at an inquiry are not sworn IIRC. But they can be found in contempt. Don't know how that pans out.
It's baffling that someone with AJ's profile and connectionss plus the allegations of impropriety, can't get any traction on dismissing the board. Only one reason makes sense. Self interest.

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"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David

I'm just slightly concerned what happens if the RA dont approve WSR?
Have we got a plan B in place? Talk was of basing it off shore but that wont be easy to do quickly

I would think plan B is probably already set up with only a switch to be flicked.

Or to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised being based overseas is now the preferred option. There is likely to be significant benefits from World Rugby/Base Country to do it that way and would further the view it is an Asian comp not just an Australian Comp. Plus without the need to deal with the shite over East.

I couldn't give a toss where head office is based as long as the management structure stays true to the original ideals.

Just a quick question for everyone. Maybe I have this information wrong. When John Welborn provided evidence to the Senate Enquiry. I thought he said that Andrew Forrest offered the ARU $70Million. Yet everyone (Allan Jones, Nick Taylor, dodgy eastern states Journos, TWF faithful) all say $50Million. Did I dream the $70Million figure? Have I finally lost it? Does anyone have access to the John Welborn transcript to check?

I was there (don't tell my boss I was "sick) The mayor sat next to me for a bit... 70mill was the figure. I believe he went with a commitment that 50 mill would be enough, but when he didn't come with it in a briefcase to go to Clyne with no questions asked he was told it'd need to be" well north of 100 million" (Pulver) The 50 million would have been needed to pay off Clyne mates in Melbourne, compensating them for losing a team that they had been told was safe. When twiggy offered to pay it into a future fund that Clyne didn't control and would have seen the money actually go to grass roots, the door was slammed in his face. There is still no mention of how much money sanzaar forwarded to ra so they would assassinate one of their own.

IIRC there was a phone conversation between Clyne and the Sydney based WA board member the weekend before the Adelaide farce. I think the 70 mil was what Clyne said the price of a Force reprieve would be, thinking that would be out of the ball park. AF called his bluff and agreed. Of course the dirty financial dealings were already in motion and that's the real reason AF's generosity was too late.

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"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David

If an Australian Team - Western Force - is going to be involved with WSR. I think RA has to be involved.

They might have to approve the involvement, but I was thinking more in terms of trying to leverage themselves into a position to control the competition. That would be much harder if the competition wasn't domiciled in Australia.

From Nick Taylor stories - $70 million
How Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest resurrected the Western Force
Nick Taylor PerthNow
April 29, 2018 10:00PM
The Lazarus-like survival of the Western Force becomes a reality this Friday when the WA club makes its debut in a new competition. The man behind the resurrection, Andrew Forrest, today reveals to Nick Taylor the inside story on how he was able to keep rugby alive in WA

RUGBY Australia clearly had no idea what they were about to unleash when they kicked over the hornet’s nest that is Andrew Forrest.Whether it was arrogance or downright stupidity to refuse his mind-blowing offer to pour $70 million into the RA purse to save Western Force from their Super Rugby axe will only ever be known to them.But on neutral territory in Adelaide last August that is exactly what Cameron Clyne, chairman of cash-strapped RA, former Wallaby captain John Eales and fellow board member Brett Robinson did.
They snubbed the WA mining magnate.
He was not happy and not about to take it lying down.

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest called the Australian Rugby Union’s board's bluff when they said they would save the Western Force and resign if he pumped $70 million into the sport.He agreed. They backed down.
Details of the demands were revealed for the first time during Wednesday’s senate inquiry into the future of rugby in Australia.

The likes of Izzy, Hoops, Dane, Beale will stay at Australian clubs for 2019 to play World Cup - but in 2020? No Salary Cap at World Series... what if these guys were offered 3 times as much?
Bye Bye Super Rugby...

Yeah, but why pick a fight? Do we really want or care about having the likes of Israel Folau playing for the Western Force, or would we be better developing our own players? Let the ARU have discussions about whether this or that is at a higher standard, I'm loving WSR and don't really care what they think. As far I'm concerned the ARU can keep Super Rugby, let's do our own thing in WA and the Asia Pacific region - with or without them.